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OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Thunder showed Wednesday night that they dont always need to have Kevin Durant score in the fourth quarter to win a close game. Durant scored just two of his 26 points in the final 12 minutes and his teammates -- including Derek Fisher, Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson -- stood in the gap, helping Oklahoma City pull away for a 106-97 win over a Minnesota Timberwolves team without Kevin Love and two other starters. Jackson added 20 points (seven in the fourth quarter) and nine assists for the Thunder, who won for the 12th time in their last 13 games and became the NBAs first team this season to 40 wins. The Thunder won for the ninth straight time at home against Minnesota, which entered the game 3 1/2 games behind Dallas in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot from the Western Conference. The Thunder have won eight straight home games and are 15-1 this season against Western Conference foes at Chesapeake Energy Arena. "We just focus on doing our job every night and living with the results and theyve been pretty good for a while now," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "We have expectations to a standard that we want to play at and I think weve done a good job with that going into the All-Star break. "This is funky time for a lot of teams because a lot of players are probably thinking about the break and what theyre doing, getting their plans together. Weve never been a team that has done that and I dont anticipate that happening this year." Love, an All-Star forward, sat out with a stiff neck after taking a hard fall Tuesday in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Center Nikola Pecovic (ankle injury) and forward Corey Brewer (family leave) also didnt play for the Timberwolves. Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said he was proud of the way his undermanned team fought. "I think it shows that these guys compete," Adelman said. "They werent afraid to go play them with three starters out. It gave the other guys an opportunity to play. I couldnt be prouder of the way they competed. We just ran a little bit out of gas at the end." With Minnesota devoting its defensive energies to stopping Durant, other Thunder players made the key plays in the final minutes. The score was tied in the closing seconds of the third quarter when Fisher attempted a 3-pointer from the corner that appeared to be long, but Minnesotas Gorgui Dieng accidentally tapped it into the basket to give the Thunder an 80-77 lead. Fisher finished with 13 points, his second-best offensive outing of the season. "Ive never seen that before," Durant said of the goaltending call on Dieng. "That guy is a rookie . so Im sure hes going to learn from that one. But that gave us a boost and at the start of the fourth those guys came out and played extremely hard and thats what we needed." Lamb opened the fourth quarter with another 3-pointer to push Oklahoma Citys lead to six points. The Thunder finished off the 16-4 run with a dunk by Lamb with 7:17 left that made it 93-81, but Oklahoma City suddenly went cold from the field. Durant was called for a technical foul with 4:39 left after protesting a no-call, but Ricky Rubio missed the ensuing free throw, leaving the score at 93-86. Minnesota pulled within 95-89 after a 3-pointer by Robbie Hummel with 3:45 left, but the Timberwolves came no closer. "We came into the game aggressive and we fought all the way through, but in the last five minutes, I think we missed too many free throws and easy shots while they made shots at the end," said Rubio, who had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Thabo Sefolosha, who missed his first seven 3-point attempts, made one from the corner with 1:43 left to extend the Thunders lead to 100-90 and Minnesota came no closer than nine points the rest of the way. "Theyre NBA players, too," Durant said of his teammates. "Its not like Ive been scoring every point in the fourth. We play off each other. Guys hit big shots and we got stops. . We play a team game here." Durant, who also had nine rebounds and seven assists, continued his strong play against the Timberwolves. He had a triple-double in a home win over the Timberwolves on Dec. 1 and scored 48 points in a win at Minnesota on Jan. 4 before his outburst Wednesday. The Timberwolves led by as many as six points in the second quarter, but Oklahoma City took a 56-54 lead after Durant swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Durant had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists by halftime. Dante Cunningham added 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting for Minnesota. Serge Ibaka had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Thunder. NOTES: Brewer didnt travel with the team following the birth of his son on Tuesday. The Timberwolves say hes expected to return for Fridays game at New Orleans. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute replaced Brewer in the starting lineup. ... Durant was the Western Conference player of the month for January. He averaged 35.9 points per game while shooting 54.9 per cent during the month, leading Oklahoma City to a 10-game winning streak. He scored 30 or more points in 12 straight games. ... Olympic gold-medal winning gymnasts Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci, who live in nearby Norman, attended the game. ... Hummel saw his first action since Jan. 6 at Philadelphia. He played 17 minutes and scored five points. .. Oklahoma City C Kendrick Perkins matched his season high with 12 rebounds. Justice Hill Youth Jersey .com) - Klay Thompson is quickly proving he is worth every penny of his recently signed four-year contract extension. Ben Powers Jersey . Anderson shook off some unusually poor shooting and hit two clutch 3-pointers in overtime that carried the New Orleans Pelicans to a 111-106 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. http://www.cheapravensshoponline.com/Youth-Ray-Lewis-Ravens-Jersey/ . Eller said the Oilers were a "junior team" that was "all over the place" before Edmontons 4-3 victory over Montreal on Tuesday night, Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins took offence to Ellers comments and used it to motivate his youthful team. Iman Marshall Womens Jersey . Kenny Miller scored from the penalty spot and Camilo Sanvezzo came off the bench to add two late goals as the Whitecaps kept their playoff hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over the sagging Impact on Saturday afternoon. Marquise Brown Womens Jersey . Or how his team has defended Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Or just about anything that has happened on the court in the first-round playoff series. Instead, Rivers and his players spent Saturday talking about how they would respond to an audio recording of a man identified as Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to games.OTTAWA -- The sight of Daniel Alfredsson skating in an Ottawa Senators jersey so soon after the very public airing of grievances between him and his former team may have surprised some people. Erik Karlsson wasnt one of them. "Its pretty normal, I mean hes been doing it for a while," the Senators defenceman said with a laugh. "Its when he puts the other jersey that it would feel a little different probably." Alfredsson joined other NHL players at an informal skate at Bell Sensplex on Monday. Last week the former Senators captain made headlines when he said negotiations to bring him back to Ottawa for another season "went nowhere," causing general manager Bryan Murray to publicly defend the front office. The 40-year-old Alfredsson signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings July 5 as a free agent after negotiations with the Senators fell through. Karlsson has grown close to Alfredsson, a fellow Swede, and even lived with him at times. He admits things will be very different without his mentor around on a daily basis. "For me on a personal level its going to be tough for me, were close friends and hes helped me out a lot. I only wish him all the best," he said. "I still think well be friends. "I dont think its that sudden and Im just happy hes still playing," Karlsson added. "We have to move on and I think we have guys on the team thats ready to take the next step and as of right now everybodys pretty excited to focus on our game and becoming a better team." Alfredssons departure after 17 seasons with the Senators undoubtedly means a change of leadership will have to take place, but Karlsson is confident the team will be able to adjust accordingly. "Theres going to be changes inside the locker-room and on the ice and I think the group of guys we have are going to handle that perfectly I think," said Karlsson. "I think there will be no problems moving on from here and as I said it was just a matter of time before Alfie was gone." Karlsson is back in Ottawa after spending much of the summer in Sweden and appears to be makinng progress in recovering from a partially lacerated Achilles tendon.dddddddddddd Karlsson suffered a 70 per cent tear to his Achilles Feb. 13 in a game against Pittsburgh when Penguins forward Matt Cooke stepped on his leg. He was expected to miss the remainder of the season following the injury, but the 23-year-old played the last three games of the regular season and all of Ottawas 10 playoff games. Karlssons return was impressive, but it was clear he had a long way to go before returning to form. The 2012 Norris Trophy winner as the NHLs top defenceman says hes been working hard and is excited about the upcoming season. "I can feel the excitement right now coming back. Its been a short summer it feels like, but I think overall I feel great and happy to be back early." As for his injury, Karlsson sees no reason for concern. "It feels good actually, Im a little bit surprised myself. Ive been able to do most of the normal stuff that I do in the summers and Ive been focusing a lot in trying to get it back as strong and as quickly as possible and as of right now I dont think I would have any concerns going into training camp. "Right now it feels normal to me even if its not as it used to be, but I dont think its going to stop me from being a good hockey player and moving forward in my career. I dont have any concerns right now that its going to affect me." One of Karlssons greatest attributes was his skating and following the injury many questioned whether or not it would be affected. "As of right now it doesnt feel like it, but well see when the first game comes," he said. Karlsson said his condition has improved considerably since his return to action last season. "Ive had some time now working off the ice and really trying to get it into shape," he said. "I barely feel it anymore when I do certain stuff that I did before, especially on the ice it doesnt feel close to what it did last season." "As of right now I dont think I could have felt any better than I do right now and I didnt expect to feel this good at this period of time." ' ' '